The following is a small financial analysis of two demographics of the US population using data sourced from NPR.org and opensourceecology.org.
318.9 million people live the United States.
This analysis breaks them into three groups:
1. The richest 1%. That is, the 3189000 (3.2 million) people who are the wealthiest individuals.
2. The poorest 90%. This should be considered as most people. Nine out of any ten people. That's 287010000 people out of a total population of 318900000.
3. The second richest 9% -- since I have no data on this group, they're not mentioned. Just know that 9% of the American people (28,701,000 people) and their money are not discussed below.
The average annual income for the richest 1% has averaged at $947,500 since 2010.
To give some perspective, there are just over 3 million people seeing a million bucks per year.
All up, this richest 1% of Americans is handling $3021577500000. Since numbers are ridiculous at that size, in English that is three trillion, twenty-one billion, five hundred seventy-seven million, five hundred thousand dollars. Sounds made-up, but it's a quite accurate estimate. Three trillion dollars.
The average wage of the poorest 90% -- most Americans -- averaged at $21,500 since 2010.
To give some perspective, there are two hundred and eighty-seven million Americans seeing (on average) about twenty-one grand per year.
All up this poorest 90% of Americans are handling $6,170,715,000,000 annually.
In English, that's six trillion, one hundred seventy billion, seven hundred fifteen million,
318.9 million people live the United States.
This analysis breaks them into three groups:
1. The richest 1%. That is, the 3189000 (3.2 million) people who are the wealthiest individuals.
2. The poorest 90%. This should be considered as most people. Nine out of any ten people. That's 287010000 people out of a total population of 318900000.
3. The second richest 9% -- since I have no data on this group, they're not mentioned. Just know that 9% of the American people (28,701,000 people) and their money are not discussed below.
The average annual income for the richest 1% has averaged at $947,500 since 2010.
To give some perspective, there are just over 3 million people seeing a million bucks per year.
All up, this richest 1% of Americans is handling $3021577500000. Since numbers are ridiculous at that size, in English that is three trillion, twenty-one billion, five hundred seventy-seven million, five hundred thousand dollars. Sounds made-up, but it's a quite accurate estimate. Three trillion dollars.
The average wage of the poorest 90% -- most Americans -- averaged at $21,500 since 2010.
To give some perspective, there are two hundred and eighty-seven million Americans seeing (on average) about twenty-one grand per year.
All up this poorest 90% of Americans are handling $6,170,715,000,000 annually.
In English, that's six trillion, one hundred seventy billion, seven hundred fifteen million,
| This means:
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But all that is just numbers, with no real-world context. Get ready for the significant part.
The average cost of living for one person in one year in the USA is $20,194.
(source attribution is to Bureau of Labor Statistics).
The deduction we take (from the cost of living and the average money per year) is that of the 90% of US citizens who have the least money, the average among them is only scraping by. This means 45% of Americans are making enough money on which to subsist, and another 45% of them doesn't even make enough to cover the basics.
It means 45% of Americans literally cannot actually afford to be Americans. This is a major problem.
What's the solution? A large-scale redistribution of superfluous privately-held wealth would do the job. It may not be very fruitful to ask America's ultra-wealthy 1% to share some of the money they literally don't need (remember, their living cost is only $20,194) with some of their 143,505,000 fellow Americans who simply cannot pay their bills.
But if one were to ask, one could phrase it like this:
The average cost of living for one person in one year in the USA is $20,194.
(source attribution is to Bureau of Labor Statistics).
The deduction we take (from the cost of living and the average money per year) is that of the 90% of US citizens who have the least money, the average among them is only scraping by. This means 45% of Americans are making enough money on which to subsist, and another 45% of them doesn't even make enough to cover the basics.
It means 45% of Americans literally cannot actually afford to be Americans. This is a major problem.
What's the solution? A large-scale redistribution of superfluous privately-held wealth would do the job. It may not be very fruitful to ask America's ultra-wealthy 1% to share some of the money they literally don't need (remember, their living cost is only $20,194) with some of their 143,505,000 fellow Americans who simply cannot pay their bills.
But if one were to ask, one could phrase it like this:
| Dear ultra-wealthy Americans, If you make a million dollars this year, you'll no doubt have a plan for putting most of that money to work making more money. Whatever you plan to do with your money, please know that your annual earnings have the potential to help 18 American families achieve a minimum standard of living that will ensure they can obtain adequate food, shelter, and transportation sufficient to live on. If you have a better use for your money, no doubt you will use it there. But if you don't have a better use for your money, please consider investing in American Quality of Life for those currently living without it. |
A reasonable answer to expect may be a "no". But it never hurts to ask.
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